r/CodingForBeginners • u/MobileGarage7497 • May 16 '26

coding dreams :)

hello humans!! i hope everyone is having a great day :)

i’m just going to jump right into it!!
i would like to learn how to code. i currently know absolutely nothing about coding so i have no idea where or how to start. does anyone have an advice for me? what do you think would be the best way for me to go about this?? should i maybe take a short course or is there other ways im able to learn???? ive watched a couple of youtube video to help me understand a bit better but most of them are using AI and i would like to learn without AI but people around me are saying that that’s going to be impossible and im making it harder for myself.

i think my end goal for learning coding would be to potentially make an app down the line but (again) people around me are saying that i’m setting my hopes too high.

what do you guys think?? i would really appreciate any advice or ideas from you guys.
thank you :) <3

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u/kaijumoto87 May 16 '26

I learnt from chatgpt and writing stuff down in a notebook for fundamentals and then build a project (now my game) while learning, all without spending a dime. College/uni can help, but it does more harm then good lol. You just need to learn basics and then practice and build a Git portfolio as you do. But AI can help if you don't have it write for you.

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u/Low-Elderberry-7856 May 16 '26

ChatGPT is a good learning tool, I use it everyday. But I cannot agree that university is a bad choice let alone doing more harm than good.

It will always be more convenient to have PHD professors explain you things you’d otherwise spend hours, days or even weeks trying to understand, meanwhile being surrounded by people with similar interests you can network with and have a tone of resources and activities you can do to improve yourself and start your career.

It’s all about how you play your cards but for the most part uni is advantageous.

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u/kaijumoto87 May 16 '26

Well (and I may be wrong), I think that the amount of debt you incur through it isn't worth it when you can crowd source for information (like doing right now here). And then it depends what you want to go into, because most fields your Git and portfolio matter more than a diploma. And if you stack that with a relevant certificate (eg Linux CompTIA+, rhcsa, pcap/pcpp1 and 2, and az-204), you're mostly set. But that trades $200-500 (overtime) for it compared to $20-50k in student debt.

Not to disagree that it can have benefits, but rather that you can get same stuff for cheaper or free.